hillcrest

hill crest. It is very helpful for us on the board to see the whole denial letter. Delete name and social/file number all that personal identifying stuff, however the actual letter and its words help for people here to see exactly what the VA said and what that means.

As far as "checking the box no"

I have made claims for stuff that was not on my exit exam and that i did not indicate there. I mentioned shin splints and a back issue but have claimed other things.

What i did was fill out and sign a sworn declaration listing the incident and how/when it occurred. How i felt after, and since then and how it affects my life. I also addressed the fact it was not in my medical exams and no record from BAS for that. Im sure it was the same for you, but in the Infantry and military in general it is frowned upon to go to BAS for anything other than a bone sticking out of your face. I talked about how in the military and our unit this was the case and has to do with individual and unit pride. of not admitting injury as that is a admittance of weakness. Its something the VA uses to hurt vets quite a bit. The government trains you to not accept injury and not go to get things treated because of pride, then uses that to deny you at the VA.

If you could also contact friends from you unit that would sign a sworn declaration for two things.

1) witness(es) to the event. when it happened, how it happened and how you were feeling right after
2) witness(es) to your back pain after the incident

" click that for more information on how to make your case stronger as well as a template for a sworn declaration.

These are more powerful than just mentioning things in a C&P exam. In a exam they ask you a lot of questions but only a few sentences ever appear in the exam notes.

A sworn declaration does 2 things. It puts all of your story on paper for the rater to see and it also carries with it the force of law. a regular statement is not subject to perjury laws per say, but a sworn declaration is and thus it holds more weight because you are declaring under penalty of perjury that these statements are true.

contact buddies from your unit. write up the declaration for them if you want and have them sign them after reading them. have family and friends, boss, coworkers as well to establish how it affects you now.

You are close, but a little more work is needed.

1. You have the in service incident(s).

2. You need a current diagnosis showing chronic condition (plus residuals).
a. MRI
b. x-ray
c. CT Scan

3. Last, an Independent Medical Exam (by orthopedic surgeon) that opinions the current disability is related/caused by the military back strains.
a. Make sure you bring the specific military records related to the back strains.

NEVER GIVE UP